Lately, I've been getting lots of political calls. In the past week alone I've heard from the Hoeffel campaign, the Kerry campaign, and Wellstone Action. So when I picked up the phone and heard someone ask if Sarah was available, and then say they were from the DNC, I wasn't surprised. Nor did I notice at first her Indian accent -- I'm so accustomed to assuming that political calls are being made by interns and volunteers and field staffers that I had no reason to picture this voice coming from anywhere but Southeast Washington DC.
It was only when the caller launched into her spiel that I began to feel a bit of disorientation. It was painfully clear that not only was she reading lines from a screen, but also that she barely understood what she was saying. "Thedemocratsare-unitedlikenever-before-behindJohn-Kerryandso-for-this-reason-we-areasking-eve
ryonewhowantstosee-Bushoutofoffice-inNovembertoplease-donate..." she recited in a monotone string of syllables.
My mind reeled as she continued her pitch. Was it possible that the DNC had contracted its fundraising calls to an Indian call center? She asked me for a donation, which I politely declined to make at this time (I'm donating directly to campaigns at the moment, rather than to the DNC, but that's beside the point).
I have no proof that this woman was calling me from India, and not just a startlingly bad political telemarker who happened to have an Indian accent. If it's the former, it needs to stop right now. (If it's the latter, the DNC needs to work on its training or something, and badly.)
It may be obvious to everyone why this needs to end, but here's my take: the same way that Democratic political campaigns hold themselves to the highest possible standards in terms of using union labor to produce every last button and yard sign, they need to hold themselves to the highest standards in terms of outsourcing, as well.
I'm someone who thinks there are times and situations where a call center in Mumbai can serve customers just as well as one in Omaha. But this is not one of them. Not only is outsourcing your calls a bad move politically at a time when it's become a hot-button economic issue -- it's just plain bad strategy to use callers who don't speak the language that well when you're trying to convince people to hand over their cash.
I'm curious: has anyone else received similar calls from the DNC? Should we let them know they're not doing themselves any favors by hiring callers who give the impression of not understanding the words they're saying?